Cyanobacteria - Asymmetric contemporary oxidized sterling silver necklace with Green Agate for your favorite Geek Chic

I’ve been thinking about making an addition to my Microbiology collection for some time now… This time I got inspired by Cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae and blue-green bacteria). They are probably best known for the extensive and highly visible blooms that can form in both freshwater and marine environment and can have the appearance of blue-green paint or scum. Because these blooms are toxic, it is common to close the affected beaches and thus many people get really upset with these little bacteria:) So it may surprise you that the cyanobacteria are actually one of the largest and most important groups of bacteria on earth.

…just a little bit of mandatory nerd (= science) talk now :)

Cyanobacteria are aquatic and photosynthetic, which means, they live in the water, and can manufacture their own food. Because they are bacteria, they are quite small and usually unicellular, though they often grow in colonies large enough to see. They are the oldest known fossils, more than 3.5 billion years old, in fact!

Many oil deposits are attributed to the activity of cyanobacteria. The oxygen atmosphere that we depend on was generated by numerous cyanobacteria during the Archaean and Proterozoic Eras. Prior to that, the atmosphere was unsuitable for life as we know it today.

Another great contribution of the cyanobacteria is the origin of plants. The chloroplast with which plants make food for themselves is actually a cyanobacterium living within the plant's cells. Sometime in the late Proterozoic, or in the early Cambrian, cyanobacteria began to take up residence within certain eukaryote cells, making food for the eukaryote host in return for a home.

So here is my new Cyanobacteria necklace, and for those who do not care about science as much as I do, a simple pretty abstract neck piece :)

 

 

As you've probably guessed these last pictures are microscope shots of the Cyanobacteria colonies and my visual inspiration :)

My Coiled Jewelry - Wire Wrapped and Handforged Sterling Silver, Copper and Gold Filled Jewelry with high quality Gemstones

Another mosaic made with Flickr toys :) This selection incorporates some of my coiled jewelry.


Most of them can be found in my Arctida shop

Craft your favorite quote! - weekly challenge

Last week’s theme was - Craft your favorite quote! …the craft doesn't have to include the actual quote, just be inspired by it...picked by DinDi.

I chose my favorite Albert Einstein's quote - "Two things are infinite: the Universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the Universe." :)

The quote gave me an idea to make a focal in the necklace shaped as an ancient "Infinity" symbol.

Rabies virus - Modern Oxidized Sterling Silver pendant with Garnet for your favorite Geek Chic - MSOE monthly challenge "Louis Pasteur"

So the New Year has passed and I’ve been busy busy busy bee :) Two challenges, one vacation, Huge Holiday and a lot of cases of flue in the family … it was tiring but the challenges and vacation was fun :)

So here comes the first challenge from Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE). This month’s challenge was a creation inspired by the theme of "Louis Pasteur".

…just a little bit of nerd (= science) talk now :P

Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of disease. One of his great achievements was that he created the first vaccine for rabies.

Rabies (From Latin: rabies, "madness, rage, fury") is a viral zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that causes acute encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in mammals. It is most commonly caused by a bite from an infected animal, but occasionally by other forms of contact. If left untreated in humans it is almost invariably fatal.

...so after a time of consideration I decided to make a pendant shaped like a Rabies virus :) Ta da!

(4 small pics on the right are electron microscope shots of Rabies virus)

African savannah - weekly challenge

So it is Monday today, which means the dead line for of the weekly challenge. This weeks theme was – Africa (chosen by this week's boss CreationsbyEve). I found this gorgeous shot of Savannah and got in the mood...

So here is my vision of African savannah in green Onyx, green Agate and gold filled - Adeola necklace. The name Adeola has Nigerian origin and means "The Crown", which in my humble opinion is perfect for this necklace :)

Oh and today is a glorious day for me on Etsy, I got 1000 heart! Yay! *making a happy dance* :)

Ancient Spiral Coiled pendant with Sterling Silver and Pearls - "My Home Town" challenge

This week challenge theme was - “My Home Town….Anything that inspires you thinking back to the old days. Good memories or even bad memories…melancholy or pure bliss…”, picked by Mirthquake.

I tried to think about something that brings my thoughts to my home town and I came up with, the old stone labyrinths, so called ”Troy Towns”! This type of labyrinth, marked by large boulders can be found through out whole Scandinavia. From Iceland to within Russia there are more than 600 of them; many are several hundreds and some times even thousands of years old.

So here is my entry - Ninevia pendant. The name Ninevia is originated from “Nineveh”, the name that has been used by some locals for the “Troy cities”.

S. pneumoniae bacteria asymmetric necklace - rock crystal clear Quartz oxidized sterling silver - "Microbiology" monthly challenge

I have just joined the coolest team ever on Etsy! (apart from my EST team of course :) It is called "Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE)" and most of their members are scientists who posses an artistic dominant gene :) Yay, I'm not alone!

This month’s challenge was a creation inspired by the theme of "Microbiology", how cool is that! My master thesis project was about S. pneumoniae (Streptococcus pneumoniae) bacteria, so I felt that this could be a perfect opportunity to show them in artistic way :)

Warning! Science talk now... :)

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a normal inhabitant of the human upper respiratory tract. S. pneumoniae can cause pneumonia, as well as infections in other parts of the body such as in the bloodstream (bacteremia), lining of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis), bones (osteomyelitis), joints (arthritis), ears (otitis media) and sinuses (sinusitis). Usually, they are seen as pairs of cocci (spherical or spheroid shape), but they may also occur singly and in short chains. The primary virulence factor (or in other words the ability of a microbe to cause disease) of pneumococci is their polysaccharide capsule (which can be seen as a "halo" around the cells on the last pic). It is non-toxic but helps bacteria to evade the host immune cells.

My latest creations

I'm in love with the vines :) I mean wire vines, although I do like the grape ones too :) So lately I've been experimenting with different shapes. I have already posted a couple of designs (Kiena and Neda) with the vines and here are my latest ones (Niolle och Domani)

and I have taken my first picture with a model! My hubby's pretty cousin has graciously agreed to model for me, and if you look close there are vines there too :)

Ituralde - Apatite, Peridot and White Topaz wire wrapped coiled chandelier style earrings in oxidized Sterling Silver OOAK

Here is one of my latest designs (Ituralde), after making all those lime+teal/turquoise treasuries, I wanted to make some earrings with the same colors. Lately I've been using treasuries as a training grounds for the color combo try outs. I think it turned out pretty bright and sunny, just the way I had imagined it :)

National Day of Sweden

Today, June 6th is National Day of Sweden or as it also called - Swedish Flag Day! Since it s a holiday I had some time over and I have finally finished a new pair of coiled earrings. Here is "Neda" - bridal ornate oxidized sterling silver earrings with Rock Crystal Clear Quartz and Pearls.

For more of my bridal jewelry click here

Trying out some new things…

I have always been a “supporter” of silver and emerald green together, but after trying out it with the gold I realized, that I may be wrong :) So I decided to oxidize the silver to see if it’ll bring out the emerald green more (the way gold does) and … look, it actually did :)

I also wanted to try “alternative” materials for my necklaces, meaning other the gold or silver chain. So I tried out leather and organza bands together with my copper pendants and here is the first pic of coiled copper pendant with freshwater pearls and organza ribbon. It turned out pretty nice :)